While dozens of looters and armed robbers took to the streets of New Orleans during Hurricane Isaac, police reported no killings and virtually no gunfire, resulting in one of the least violent weeks in a city notorious for its sky-high murder rate.

DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
The Louisiana Nation Guard patrols the French Quarter after New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued a curfew for the city as Hurricane Isaac lashed the city on the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive arrival Wednesday August 29, 2012. The curfew was issued to prevent looting.

Serpas attributed the drop in violence to a mandated dusk-to-dawn curfew and heightened street patrols. For the last week, about 600 police officers and 200 National Guardsmen patrolled the streets at any given time, he said.

Even with the beefed-up patrols, the widespread lack of electricity seemed to embolden opportunistic criminals. At least 12 armed robberies and three carjackings were reported. Officials anticipate hundreds of residential and business burglaries will be reported when all the records are compiled.

In one incident, a masked gunman walked into Hi-Ho Lounge at 2239 St. Claude Ave. about 10:35 p.m. Saturday and ordered all the bar's patrons onto the floor, according to police reports. The robber threw a bag to the bartender, demanding money from the cash register. The bartender complied, although police did not say how much the robber snatched.

In a separate incident, five juveniles armed with a gun carjacked a 22-year-old woman as she sat in her car in the 4700 block of Wilson Avenue about 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, according to police reports.

All told, police arrested 41 people for looting, Serpas said. Most of them targeted convenience stores, stealing food, alcohol and cigarettes.

Looting during a declared state of emergency carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro made a point of seeking stiff bond amounts for looters, as he personally presided over sessions in magistrate court on Tuesday. In some cases, magistrate commissioners set bonds for alleged looters as high as $100,000.

Police picked up two accused looters Thursday as they walked on Claiborne Avenue near Frenchmen Street, rolling a garbage can filled with boxes of sneakers. The sneakers were stolen from nearby Milano Urban Wear, according to arrest reports.

Also on Thursday, two men were booked on counts of attempted looting after they were caught trying to pry open the drive-through window at McDonald's on St. Charles Avenue near Louisiana Avenue.

In other incidents:

-- Police discovered two men Wednesday who were stuffing bottles of Jack Daniels and Absolut Vodka in bags inside Club S & S at 2600 Martin Luther King Drive. One of them tried to hide in the women's bathroom, according to police reports.

-- A 37-year-old woman and two 17-year-olds were booked on counts of looting and contributing to delinquency of a juvenile after being caught rummaging through a store's food shelves with a 13-year-old boy. When caught inside Selena and Serena Sweet Shop at 8135 Oleander Street, the woman "apologized and stated they were hungry," according to a police report.

"When you have five or six days with no electricity at night, it makes it very difficult to police," Serpas said. "We got a lot of phone calls from citizens. That was very important."

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Naomi Martin can be reached at nmartin@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3452.